It was pure coincidence, the Secretary of State for Art assures us: 20 applications each were received for both the Albertina and the KHM Museum Association, of which exactly half were from women and half from men. Interested parties from abroad are clearly in the majority in both houses: in the Albertina there are only three applicants with Austrian citizenship, for the KHM there are six.
It is clear that the scientific directors of both Vienna art museums, which enjoy a worldwide reputation, will be reassigned from January 1, 2025: Both incumbents, Sabine Haag, who has headed the association of Kunsthistorisches Museum, Weltmuseum Wien and Theatermuseum Wien since 2009, and who has been at the head of the Albertina since 2000 standing Klaus Albrecht Schröder, no longer compete.
The application process ran until March 13th. After a period of grace for possible postal delays had expired, the State Secretariat for the Arts and Culture announced the number of applications at the request of the APA. The same agency was entrusted with handling the tendering process for both institutions with AltoPartners, but there are two different selection committees. They will now review the applications and invite the most promising candidates to hearings.
The resulting proposal is “fundamentally dependent on the applicant: internal situation, but usually a multi-person proposal,” said the State Secretariat, which did not want to commit to a closer timetable. Only so much: “A decision can be expected before the summer.”
